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Social Lives of Dogs

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A savvy TV producer once invited New Hampshire author Elizabeth Marshall Thomas to host a local cable show for the Humane Society. Her job was to introduce four animals in need of homes; an unruly dog with an incontinence problem, two feral kittens and one normal cat. Thomas adopted all four of them.

Anthropologist, novelist, and animal lover, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas writes of dog behavior with sympathy, insight and considerable humor. Following her bestseller, "The Hidden Life of Dogs" (which explored dog-with-dog culture), "The Social Life of Dogs," examines dog adaptation to human households, or, in the Thomas case, a multiple-species household.

At the time the book opens, Thomas and her husband, Steve, had three old dogs left from "The Hidden Life of Dogs" pack and didn't want any more. Steve "didn't want another animal of any description" and Elizabeth, while "always open to another dog," plans to wait until the old dogs died before getting an adult dog she can learn from, an Indian dog from Northern Canada, say, or a pariah dog from a Third World village. What she doesn't want is the white dog who quietly appears and won't leave - an American purebred cross.

Thomas does not approve of purebreds. "The important features of a dog are his brains and his persona," not looks. Still, unable to find the dog's owners, after a few days Thomas begins to ask herself, "what, after all, is really so wrong with a few purebred strains?"

And so begins her relationship with Sundog, the animal whose ashes will someday be mingled with her and Steve's. Her descriptions of Sundog's adoption of human mannerisms (the three old dogs rejected him totally) - his sharing of food, for instance, are touching and fascinating. Although Sundog did not like popcorn, the ritual of sharing was important to him - a kernel for Sundog, a kernel for Steve - until the bowl was empty. One evening Steve wanted to read without interruption. When Sundog took his usual chair at the table, Steve said "no" and put a handful of popcorn on the floor. Sundog, hurt, left the room. Although they swiftly followed him with the bowl, entreating him to return, Sundog never touched popcorn again and never returned to the table to share.

The next dog was a purebred (for what reason Marshall does not explain) purchased as a companion for Sundog. Having spent her first year of life without stimulation in a crate, the dog is a mess and Thomas buys her out of pity. Sundog rejects her. Misty's difficulties teach Marshall a great deal about the importance of early learning and Misty's insecurities about keeping "place two" lead to behavioral difficulties with visitors (canine or human), incoming cats and, especially, incoming dogs.

The third dog, Pearl, came from Marshall's son in Colorado and furnishes much of the book's hilarity and color. Protective, kindly and dignified, she disarms aggressive Misty by respectfully ignoring her furious antics. Over a period of four months she trains Marshall to rise at 4:30 am. She barks at everything and on a trip to the city barks herself hoarse at the strange cars until forced to take refuge on the floor. Distracted by the barking, late for a book signing, Marshall parks on an unfamiliar street and dashes to the bookstore, asking directions on the way. Only afterwards does she realize she has no idea whatsoever where the car might be. Marshall's description of Pearl's quick grasp of the situation and her take-charge solution is second only to the story of Pearl's knocking her headlong down a flight of stairs which ends, "Who could resist such a dog?"

When Marshall uses radio collars to find out what the cats are hunting (one is hurrying each morning to harrass a housebound cat through a window), Pearl accompanies her. When a radio collar fails, Pearl somehow deduces the problem and leads Marshall to the unappreciative feline.

The fourth dog is the incontinent, cat-chasing, chicken-killing Ruby, rescued from the Humane Society. Since her behavior is primarily unbearable to the other animals, Rajah the alpha cat and Rima the macaw train her swiftly, with none of Marshall's inexhuastible patience.

But Marshall delivers more than a collection of fascinating, poignant, hilarious anecdotes (though there is the rabbit who hunts squirrels with its dog companion, the birds who scold the dogs and summon the cats in Marshall's voice). A thoughtful, meticulous observor, she shares compelling insights into animal behavior, the social workings of groups (her own menage breaks down into smaller, multi-species units), and common difficulties with training.

So who is this book for? Dog lovers, obviously. But even dog fascists (her term) will appreciate the scope and grace of Marshall's writing, her abundant personality and forceful, controversial opinions. While focused primarily on dog behavior, the book is a delightful memoir of a very large, multi-species family, complete with belly laughs and tears.

Who could be better qualified to write about the hearts, minds and souls of dogs than Elizabeth Marshall Thomas? Not only is she the celebrated anthropologist who was the first to chronicle the lives of the Bushmen; not only has she studied and published scientific and popular articles on animals from African elephants to Arctic wolves; but she quite literally grew up among dogs. As we learn in the first captivating sentences of this splendid, surprising book, one of her most attentive caretakers as a child was a Newfoundland dog, whose job, as the dog saw it, was to keep the helpless human child from drowning in the sea while the dog's group, her family, lived at the beach. The dog was actually her nanny, writes Thomas--the sort of insight that at once makes perfect sense and yet takes one's breath away, and the sort of insight that characterizes this book. The Social Lives of Dogs is as wide-ranging and as deep as Thomas' best-selling The Hidden Life of Dogs. That book asked the simple and profound question: What do dogs want? The answer: other dogs. But the social grace of dogs is such that they are capable of forming deep, lasting, complex and highly individualized relationships with many species other than their own (including birds, who are, as Thomas points out, more closely related to dinosaurs than to dogs), and this is the fertile ground explored in this riveting new book. In it, we meet a great new cast of characters: brave, stoic, soldierly Sundog, a former stray; Misty, a victim of AKC breeding who grew up in a crate and didn't understand grass; curly-tailed Pearl, who made an art of barking. The Thomas household is, as she writes, a "churning cauldron" of (at its high point) five dogs, a dozen cats, five parrots and a varying number of people. There's a dog-chasing cat named Rajah and a cat-biting cockatoo named Carmen. These animals don't always behave in the ways we think they "should"--they are far too creative, inventive and individual. And that's the delight of their keenly-observed stories--stories which collectively form a rich biography of their relationships with one another. Although The Hidden Life of Dogs was highly praised by some of the world's top animal behaviorists, including George Schaller, in some circles the book was controversial, as The Social Lives of Dogs will surely be. A few scientists still consider the mere suggestion that animals think is "anthropomorphic." But for the rest of us, who know that non-human as well as human animals may enjoy rich inner lives, this book offers profound evidence that our closest animal friends still surprise us--and have much to teach us about social graces.

For those who are already fans of Elizabeth Marshall Thomas and her fine anthropologist's approach to studying animal culture, THE SOCIAL LIVES OF DOGS may be the finest jewel in her crown of works. This book chronicles an approximate fifteen-year study which included, in the order that they came to live in the Thomas household, Sundog, Misty, Pearl, Ruby, and Sheilah--dogs of varying breeds and mixes. Thomas tells, in her own beautiful and compassionate way, the story of each dog's incorporation into the lives of the other dogs, people, cats, and birds in her home. She succeeds beautifully in her sincere effort always to explain her animal observations and then to try to understand and interpret from the animal's point of view. What more could one ask of an anthropologist/ethologist?

For me, Thomas taps into something very deep and important--something that's difficult to find words for. But I know that it has to do with a message that says it's okay to feel deep emotions about your animals, to talk to them and hear their answers, and to sense and acknowledge their deep feelings. Even though many of us have known and felt this intuitively, it is neither the message that our Judeo/Christian tradition nor our Linnean <I> scala natura</I> science of classification has wanted to deliver to us.

In the introduction she poses the questions: "Can we understand the mind of an animal? . . .[do] animals have consciousness?" and then proceeds to say that for some scientists . . . "the view that animals are incapable of conscious thought, or even of emotion, has acquired an aura of scientific correctness, and at the moment is the prevailing dogma, as if some very compelling evidence to the contrary was not a problem." This reader is happy to say that her own experiences with animals have certainly provided "compelling evidence to the contrary."

On a final note, THE SOCIAL LIVES OF DOGS, even though written around the lives of the canines concerned, reads a little bit like Thomas's personal memoir. She puts a lot into perspective in the excellent epilogue, which I found to be the real icing on the cake. Even as Thomas finds "grace" in canine company, so does she tell their story with much grace. This book is a wonderful read!

Dogs, cats, birds and humans all co-exist in relative harmony in Elizabeth Marshall Thomas' household. Although the humans are the dominant species in the home it seems to be the dogs who orchestrate much of the social interaction. By so eloquently describing how her dogs interact in her home and by describing the history of the dog she shows us what an amazing creature the dog truly is, and how truly blessed we are as a species that they have chosen to associate with us.

While I agree with other reviews I've read of this book, I don't think they convey how enjoyable the read is, nor how funny parts of it are. I find myself laughing out loud a lot. I think it is great, and I will certainly look at my dogs differently now.

I never thouht I would like a book on dogs but Elizabeth Marshall Thomas is a good writer, a careful observer with intelligent unique views that are entertaining and sometimes heartwarming.

The book centers primarily around Thomas' home, full of dogs, cats, a parrot and macaws, and an amazingly tolerant husband. Her primary method is that of an anthropologist, observing and interpreting her own animals. Whereas some in the scientific community would have problems with her method, we must remember that the great child psychologist, Jean Piaget, developed his theories of child development by carefully watching his own children.

She challenges the scientific dogma against anthropomorphism. This is an interesting argument. Thomas argues that as human beings we interpret through a subjective perspective even though we strive for objectivity. She seems to argue for the need to increase our everyday lived understanding of animals, not obtain perfect scientific understanding of animals. There is a difference.

For anyone considering buying a parrot or other large exotic bird, the chapter on parrots should be required reading. I never realized all the problems and complications of owning a large bird.

Thomas' three most controversial essays in the book involve her belief that most dogs are "slaves"; her stand against euthanasia; and her belief that male dogs should be given a vasectomy rather than castration.

My dog, Jasmine, is in love with the boy dog next door, Walter. Every time we let her out she runs to see if Walter is home and she loves to play with him inside his backyard. When I bring her back home she seems heartbroken, like a teenager in love. I always think of Thomas' assertion that we control our dogs and don't allow them to bond and remain with the other dogs with whom they have fallen in love. (I am a victim of anthropomorphism as you can tell). It makes me sad to think that we deprive dogs of loving relationships with each other to meet our needs.

Another controversial essay is on euthanasia. She tells the story of an aged and sick dog that she euthanized. Later she greatly regrets her actions and comes to the conclusion that if an animal can still eat food they should not be euthanized. I am still not convinced. I think she makes a strong argument that when an animal is in too much pain and agony they will stop eating and naturally die, but the thought of an animal in constant agony is greatly disturbing to me and therefore I am not totally convinced by her concepts.

Her argument that male dogs should be given a vasectomy rather than castration was fascinating. She argues that vasectomy allows the male dog to have adequate testosterone in the bloodstream to allow the dog to adequately compete with other males and to be treated with respect by female and male dogs. I never realized that castration changes the smell of their urine and leaves other dogs perplexed as to the gender of the castrated male. However we also have to remember that humans have dogs castrated to stop aggressive fighting, excessive marking with their urine, neighborhood roaming, and mounting behaviors on other dogs. Vasectomy makes them infertile but does not change any of the male dog behavior patterns.

Finally, I found her essay on the development of dogs from wolves to be very interesting, especially her idea that we can still observe the early man-dog social patterns in remote rural third world villages. In these villages, dogs live on the border/boundaries of the village. They alert the village to intruders. They sometimes accompany a hunt for a large animal. They survive by eating scraps and human feces (which contains undigested protein). This is certainly far from the lives of dogs in the United States with the exceptions of wild or runaway dogs which must revert to these patterns just to survive.

The book is short and can be finished on a plane ride. It is thoughtful entertainment - the best kind.

I was inspired to write this review by reading one already written which claims that Thomas calls everyone with a pedigreed dog, a castrated dog, or a leash on a dog a "dog fascist". Not so at all. I am surprised that people read so carelessly (if they read these books at all). One of her own dogs is pedigreed, as she says in her book. Yes, she disapproves of castrating male dogs BUT NOT OF VASECTOMY, which she recommends as an alternative. Nor does she disapprove of using a leash. She says she doesn't use a leash on her own dogs on her own property in the country, but she tells of using a leash in the city, so presumably she uses leashes when she needs to. This is FAR from disapproving of leashes in general. I wish that reviewers would read more carefully before they blather on erroneously. This is a great book.

I fairly consumed this book reading it from tip to tail in the course of a few days. It was so engaging in fact that I read it in between my wife's contractions while she was well under way in early labor delivering our son, Connor. One hand massaging the back, one hand keeping the pages of Elizabeth Marshall Thomas' engrossing book open. They both worked well towards wonderful outcomes.

Thomas' title to her book may be somewhat misleading. Though it does focus on the social lives of dogs, it more so focuses on the social life of her zoo-like household of a multitude of dogs both permanent and transitory, cats and more cats, parrots, macaws, oh my, and a husband thrown in there somewhere. The book is more anecdotal than scientific which makes it infinitely more readable but less studied and definitive. Her fuzzy science pleases though drawing you in to her mixed-species household and you find yourself pulling for Sundog the ever-obedient confident alpha, Misty the wary, Ruby the jester, and Pearl the ebullient life-affirming lost car-finding heralder of all things barkable.

It's just hard to not love a dog, the wolves among us. Reading Thomas' book will cause you to love and appreciate them that much more.

This is an excellent book about dogs, readable even by those who do not like them. Elizabeth Maxwell Thomas writes fascinating stories about daily life with her pets, anecdotes both humorous and sad. As I read about her wonderful dogs--the incredibly intelligent Sundog, sweet Pearl, confused Misty, and goofy Ruby--I found myself looking at my dog, wondering why she wasn't nearly as interesting as Thomas's. (If I had to choose a favorite dog from the book, the human-like Sundog would be my choice.) There are also scientific bits about how wolves gradually became domesticated and why, dogs of Third World nations, and so on. This is a great book, one that everyone should read.

I was surprised to read the review below that says this book is not her best. I actually enjoyed it much more than "The Hidden Life of Dogs." She manages to talk about her animals in a way that makes them as interesting as characters in a novel, and while I don't agree with everything she says about dogs, she still seems like a sensible person who would understand that not everyone can treat their pets the way she treats hers.